A September 2010 photo shows a pedestrian taking shelter from the rain under an umbrella on one of Lowertown’s “pop-up parks” on Sixth Street outside Bin Wine Bar in downtown St. Paul’s Lowertown. Developer John Mannillo proposed such sidewalk extensions for Lowertown restaurants and bars as a means of increasing revenue during the warm months.
(Pioneer Press: John Autey)

The city of Minneapolis is clarifying plans to install three portable parks, or “parklets,” this summer in busy areas near restaurants and shopping.

The removable sidewalk extensions will allow the city to set up temporary tables and chairs in parking areas Uptown, in the North Loop and in North Minneapolis. The structures would be removed by the end of October.

“Although these parklets will be located near some restaurants, they will be public spaces,” said Casper Hill, a city spokesman. “The general public will be able to use them, not just restaurant patrons.”

A former downtown St. Paul building owner funded a similar set-up outside the Bin Wine Bar for five days in September 2010. St. Paul chose instead to construct a permanent extension of the Sixth Street sidewalk in Lowertown.

Frederick Melo came to the Pioneer Press in 2005 and brings an aggressive East Coast attitude to St. Paul beat reporting. He spent nearly six years covering crime in the Dakota County courts before switching focus to the St. Paul mayor's office, city council, and all things neighborhood-related, from the city's churches to its parks and light rail. A resident of Hamline-Midway, he is married to a Frogtown woman. He Tweets manically at @FrederickMelo

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